


Just The Way You Are

by heylittleangel



Series: Supernatural Bingos [19]
Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Dean Winchester Takes Care of Castiel, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotionally Hurt Castiel (Supernatural), Established Castiel/Dean Winchester, Established Relationship, M/M, Protective Dean Winchester, Self-Esteem Issues, body image issues, self-esteem issues Castiel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-16
Updated: 2020-02-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 20:00:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,555
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22751386
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heylittleangel/pseuds/heylittleangel
Summary: Coming back home to only silence is never good in Dean's vision; finding Cas crying, all alone, makes it even worse.
Relationships: Castiel/Dean Winchester
Series: Supernatural Bingos [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1459561
Comments: 6
Kudos: 100





	Just The Way You Are

**Author's Note:**

> Hey, peeps, how are you? I'm back with another square for the WoD bingo and I actually enjoyed writing this one. I've suffered a lot with these problems and, even though I didn't write as much as I wanted, I still think it turned out pretty good. I hope you enjoy it too :D

When Dean opened the door, the silence inside the house was almost deafening, which was all kinds of weird for him; first, because the house was hardly ever quiet with the dogs and the cats; second, there was practically always some music playing in the background, even if it was almost low enough for him not to hear it; and, third, Cas would usually be home at this point and he was more often than not huddled on the carpet with a cat and a book, reading out loud without realizing. The silence freaked Dean out as he put his bag on the floor and kicked his shoes off, because he didn’t know what had happened; he searched inside his brain to remember if Cas had said something about being late in the morning but there was nothing. Cas was supposed to be home as always and not seeing him there made Dean’s heart squeeze painfully.

He walked around the house, looking for Cas on the first floor; not in the kitchen — the food hadn’t been touched at all — nor in the living room nor in the office. Dean then walked upstairs and the first thing he saw was the cats and the dogs staring at the closed door of his and Cas’s room. They turned when they heard Dean and one of the cats—Bee, by Cas’s choice—pawed at the door and meowed, staring at Dean with what he could only call sadness. He pet them before slowly opening the door, all darkness but the light on in the bathroom. 

Dean closed the door without letting them inside and walked to the bathroom. At first glance, he almost thought it was empty until he noticed the curled form of Cas on the floor in front of the mirror. Dean could see his shoulders shaking softly, he could hear the little sobs that came out of his mouth, along with sniffles. He didn’t lose any time before hurrying to Cas’s side and dropping to his knees, arms circling Cas as he shushed him, pressing Cas against him tightly.

“Hey, sweetheart, it’s okay, it’s okay.” Dean held him tightly, placing kisses on Cas’s hair and whispering whatever comfort words he could find — even if they didn’t mean anything. 

Cas turned to bury his face on Dean’s chest, hands fisting in his shirt and pulling him closer. Dean ran his hand up and down Cas’s back, feeling the shivers from Cas’s painful sobs as he did. Dean had no idea what had happened to cause Cas so much distress and he had no idea  _ what _ to do either; it hurt him to see Cas like that and not know what to do. 

Cas also didn’t say anything, just held onto Dean as if his life depended on it, fingers curled on Dean’s shirt and head pressed tightly against his chest, Cas’s tears soaking through Dean’s shirt. Dean wanted to do something,  _ anything _ that could help Cas, but he had no idea what, not without knowing what had happened first.

He pulled himself from Cas carefully, holding Cas away from him just enough so he could look into his eyes, one hand on Cas’s cheek. Cas avoided his look, keeping his gaze locked on his hands on Dean’s shirt, lower lip painfully locked between his teeth — Dean was sure it was close to drawing blood. Dean ran his hand through Cas’s hair, pulling the strands away from his face, and placed a hand under Cas’s chin, forcing it softly up so he could look at his eyes.

Dean placed a chaste kiss on his lips before asking, “What happened, babe?”

Cas’s eyes dropped down again, a single tear rolling down his cheek. Dean cleaned it with his thumb and rubbed Cas’s cheekbone as he waited. His gaze didn’t leave Cas for even a second and he could see Cas gathering enough strength to tell him; his shoulders were tense, his mouth opened and closed a few times, and the hold on Dean’s shirt only grew stronger. Dean didn’t push him though, letting Cas take his time, and kept his hold on Cas’s back and a hand on his cheek, softly running his thumb along his cheekbone.

When Cas finally told him what had happened, it wasn’t anything Dean would’ve liked to hear, though he had a bunch of times before; someone had said something about Cas’s appearance, saying he didn’t get  _ x _ or  _ y _ because he didn’t have the looks for it. It pissed Dean off so much — as it always did — that his vision started to get tingled with red, but then Cas sobbed again and collapsed against Dean, and Dean forgot all about his anger — he would very much rather take care of Cas. He circled his arms around Cas again, placing his head on top of Cas’s, and started whispering comfort words again.

The sobs seemed to be ripped from Cas, painful and hard, and Dean couldn’t help but feel it inside him; just seeing Cas like that was enough to break his heart in million pieces, and hearing his painful sobs was even harder — even though it never got any easier. Cas had been dealing with body image issues ever since they were kids and Dean had always been there to help as much as he could; distract Cas with anything else, reassure Cas when he was more than ever believing others’ words, and tell him, over and over again, how amazing and beautiful he was, but, still, it never got easier — it would actually get harder for Cas to actually believe Dean.

Dean pulled away again, cleaning the tear tracks on Cas’s cheeks, and held his head between his hands. “Cas, babe, you know that I love you, right?” Cas nodded as he sniffled, not meeting Dean’s eyes. “Hey, look at me. It’s just you and me, sweetheart, no one else.” Cas’s eyes raised hesitantly until they met Dean’s and Dean smiled. “I know this has been a tough subject to you since for-fuckin’-ever and that still is. I know it’s hard for you and that you do your best to be happy in your own skin when almost all of the world wants you to feel bad. I’ve always done the best I could to help with it and show you how much I love you.” Dean put his legs around Cas, pulling him into his lap. “You wanna know why I always go with you in all of your marathons and follow you on your crazy ass diets?” Cas nodded slightly, hands playing with the collar of Dean’s shirt. “Because I love you so freakin’ much and I wanna support you through everything you do. Not because I think you need it, it was never because of that. I think you’re great and perfect whatever it is the way you look because that isn’t what’s most important about you. You’re smart and caring and adorable,” Dean cleaned the few tears that escaped Cas’s eyes, staring deep into them to show the truth. “I love you ‘cause you help people whenever they need, you see the good in them when they don’t see it themselves, and you don’t hesitate once in putting others before yourself. You have so many great qualities and I admire you so much. You make me wanna be a better person because you are amazing and I want to be able to be the same to you, ‘cause you only deserve the best. I don’t care how you look as long as you’re healthy and happy with who you are.” Cas’s eyes filled with more tears and his lips started trembling. “I wish you could see yourself the way I do, cause, angel, you’re the prettiest son of a bitch I’ve ever seen in my entire life and I look at the mirror every day.” That managed to get a small smile from Cas as he stared into Dean’s eyes. “But I’m serious, Cas; I love you just the way you are and I hate seeing you suffering because of other people. They are a bunch of idiots that couldn’t see something perfect even if it knocked them out of their feet and kicked their asses.”

Dean even gave him a smile but Cas’s reaction wasn’t what Dean was expecting: Cas started to cry again, burying his face in Dean’s chest and sobbing as he closed his hands on Dean’s shirt.

Panic ran through Dean’s veins as he tried to fix his screw up. “C’mon, babe, don’t cry. I didn’t want to make you cry, I’m so sorry.”

Cas shook his head softly, raising it slowly to look at Dean with a small smile. “I love you so much, Dean. I don’t even know what I would do without you. And I wish I didn’t feel the way I do, but I can’t help myself.”

“And that’s totally okay, babe.” Dean placed a kiss on his lips, keeping their foreheads pressed together. “I’ll be here for you anyway. If you wanna change, I’ll be here for you as I’ve always been. And I’ll continue to be by your side through any and everything that comes our way. Forever.”

Cas smiled against his lips. “I know you will. I love you.”

“I love you too. More than anything.”

**Author's Note:**

> So, did you like it? Leave a comment and a kudo and make this writer very happy!
> 
> As always, you can find me on [ tumblr](https://gii-heylittleangel.tumblr.com/)


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